General Electric Company

Barton H Snow

Mitchell Donald Smith

Michael J Steckler

David M Leighton

Donald F Sargisson

David J Markstein

Jack D Wright

William W Stockton, Jr

Thomas P Schmitt

David Clarence Howard

Eskedar Abebe

Thomas K Wills

Frank R Homan

A method for testing a cooling system for use in a gas turbine engine control system is provided. The method includes connecting an inlet of the cooling system to a differential pressure sensor, connecting an outlet of the cooling system to the differential pressure sensor, and determining whether or not a difference in pressure exists between the inlet and outlet, wherein such a pressure difference is indicative of whether cooling fluid is flowing through the cooling system.

Method for testing gas turbine engines

Method and apparatus for testing gas turbine engines

A method of mounting an instrument probe using an adapter post is provided. The method includes coupling an attachment end of the adapter post to a first wall defined between a cavity and an annulus, coupling an opposite sealing end of the adapter post to a second wall defined between the annulus and the ambient area, sealing the adapter post to compensate for a relative movement between the first wall and the second wall such that the sealing is maintained, and inserting the instrument probe at least partially within the adapter post to monitor a process parameter within the cavity.

Methods and apparatus for installing process instrument probes

A fuel control system for an aircraft gas turbine engine that includes a thrust augmentation system. An augmentor fuel pump is arranged to provide pressurized fuel to an exhaust nozzle throat area actuation system to eliminate the need for a separate hydraulic pump to provide pressurized fluid for exhaust nozzle actuation. An augmentor fuel bypass arrangement is provided to enable the augmentor fuel pump to provide pressurized fuel to the main fuel pressurizing valve and to components operated by the main fuel system in the event of failure of the main fuel pump. The augmentor fuel pump pressure and output flow are controlled as a function of thrust augmentation demand and main fuel system operation. The system provides redundancy by enabling either the main fuel system or the augmentor fuel system to maintain engine operation if one of the fuel systems fails or provides inadequate fuel flow.

Gas turbine engine fuel control method

Gas turbine engine fuel control system

A method of controlling a system is adapted to control flow to throat nozzle and vectoring nozzle actuators. The method comprises the steps of summing a plurality of signals representative of flow to the vectoring nozzle actuators with a signal representative of flow to the throat nozzle actuators to generate a total hydraulic flow signal. The total flow signal is then compared to a signal representative of total pump output to generate a reserve signal. Finally, a scaled rate limit signal is generated from the reserve signal and multiplied by predetermined ratio signals such that the ratio signals are limited by the difference between pump output and pump demand.

Control system for a jet engine hydraulic system

A method of detecting hydraulic leaks from a high pressure fuel hydraulic system is useful in systems where a pump, actuators, and hydraulic lines are filled with engine fuel at high pressure. The method comprises the steps of calculating pump flow based on a core engine RPM and a pump displacement, and calculating actuator fluid flow. System condition signals are then generated to indicate whether the core engine RPM is constant and whether the actuators are quiescent. A servo flow value is then provided, typically at predetermined system conditions, as indicated by the system condition signals, using the pump flow calculation and the actuator fluid flow calculation. Finally, leak flow is determined based on the pump flow calculation, the actuator fluid flow calculation, and the servo flow value, and the leak flow is responded to accordingly.

Method and system for detecting significant hydraulic leaks

A method for controlling the amount of side load experienced by a gas turbine engine and associated airframe components is provided, where the gas turbine engine includes a thrust vectoring system which deflects thrust at a vector angle away from a centerline thereof. The method includes the steps of calculating engine thrust, calculating a side load vector angle limit as a function of the calculated engine thrust and a side load limit, and limiting the vector angle of the thrust vectoring system to the side load vector angle limit in order to maintain operation of the gas turbine engine within the side load limit.

Control system for limiting the vector angle in an axisymmetric

Hydraulic control system for a jet engine nozzle

The reliability of a fluid multiplexed actuation system is increased by arranging a pair of fluidic multiplexers in a parallel fluid flow path between a selector valve and several fluid actuators. Position sensors associated with the fluidic multiplexers and with the fluid actuators provide feedback signals to a microprocessor. In the event the feedback signals identify a malfunction in the fluidic multiplexer currently supplying fluid to the actuators, the microprocessor will deactivate the malfunctioning fluidic multiplexer and activate a redundant or back-up fluidic multiplexer by actuating the selector valve.

Redundant fluidic multiplexer

An electronic fuel control for a gas turbine engine monitors the mass density of the fuel. As the mass density of the fuel varies when the fuel temperature changes or when the fuel type changes, the electronic fuel control adjusts an initial mass density to a corrected value based on the most recent measurement of mass fuel flow that was taken when the mass fuel flow measurement was known to be accurate. Accurately controlling mass fuel flow permits gas turbine engine designers to reduce tolerances in moving parts which improves the efficiency of the gas turbine engine.

Gas turbine fuel control

An improved synchrophasing system for synchrophasing fan spools and engine core spools of one or more 'slave' turbofan engines to a 'master' engine is disclosed. A fuel control means is provided for modulating the flow of fuel to the slave engines to first synchrophase the operation of the engine fan spools. A variable stator vane control means is provided for then modulating the position of variable stator vanes within the slave engines to synchrophase the operation of the engine core spools.

Turbofan synchrophaser

Control means and method for steering an aircraft is disclosed. The aircraft includes engines positioned on opposite sides of its longitudinal axis. The method comprises: selecting an aircraft heading; sensing a deviation from said heading; and varying the thrust of at least one engine in response to the sensed deviation.

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Wyoming, OH, United States of America

Barton H Snow